CARLISLE CANONRIES. (Hansard, 21 March 1854)

MR. FERGUSON

said, he begged to ask for leave to introduce a Bill to appropriate the income of such one of the Canonries of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle as shall next fall vacant to the augmentation of certain ecclesiastical incumbencies in that city. He could assure the House that his object in thus intruding himself on its notice was to relieve the position of men eminent for their talents and acquirements, but who were receiving a recompense for their services in most instances less than that paid to the mere labourer. He was quite justified in saying that within the city of Carlisle too much attention altogether had been paid to the higher dignitaries of the Church, while those who occupied the lower stations were almost wholly unprovided for. And as a proof of that he might mention that the whole amount of the income attached to four churches within the two parishes of the city only amounted to 534l., giving an average to each minister of 133l. 10s.—while the Dean and Chapter received all the income and all the tithes—the Dean getting 1,400l. a year, and each of the canons 700l. In the time of Henry VIII., when the Cathedral of Carlisle was established, the income of a canon was appointed to be 22l. 5s., and the Dean and Chapter, 1077 at the same time, were ordered to appoint vicars, instead of which their habit was only to appoint perpetual curates, so that they were thus guilty of a violation of the law. The Dean and Chapter had transferred the property to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for a sum of 5,680l. a year, out of which, after provision was made for the services of the Cathedral, 4,500l. was to be distributed among themselves, and then, but not till then, did the incumbents receive any benefit from the funds. In conclusion, it only remained for him to state, that if his Motion was agreed to, three canonries and three minor canonries would still remain attached to the Cathedral Church of Carlisle.

§ MR. CARDWELL

said, he had been requested by his right hon. Friend the Member for the University of Cambridge (Mr. Goulburn), who had been attacked with illness, to make a short statement to the House in reference to this Motion. He would first, however, state that it was not his intention to offer any opposition to the introduction of the Bill. He believed he was right in saying that there could not be gathered from the remarks of the hon. Gentleman that it was his intention to fasten any accusation or convey any imputation against the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle. [Mr. FERGUSON was quite prepared to disclaim any such intention.] On that account, therefore, it would not be necessary for him to occupy the attention of the House for any time, though he hoped hon. Gentlemen would suspend their judgment as to the merits of the whole question until they had heard his right hon. Friend (Mr. Goulburn). In the meanwhile, however, he would say that the Bill of the hon. Gentleman was a purely local Bill, that went to place Carlisle upon a different footing from the remaining cathedral towns of the kingdom; and the House would remember that arrangements had already been made by which a great number of chapters had been dissolved, and the funds belonging to them carried to a common fund, which had been appropriated to increase the salaries of the working clergy throughout the kingdom, which application was not merely local, but general. The House, therefore, would be at once aware that, if the present Bill were sanctioned, it would be placing the cathedral body of Carlisle in a different position from any other body of the same description throughout the kingdom; and that, primaâ facie, 1078 an appropriation of the fund thus created would have to be made for the general benefit of the working clergy of the kingdom, and not for the particular advantage of those of Carlisle. But, in addition to this, he might state that the Commission appointed to inquire into capitular trusts was about to make its Report, and therefore it might be desirable to suspend for a while all judgment on the question raised by the hon. Gentleman.